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Pittsburgh: A great hockey town
By John Halligan | NHL.com

It was a long time coming - 23 years to be exact - but when the Pittsburgh Penguins finally won the Stanley Cup in 1991, they went right out and did it again and became only the fourth non-Original Six team to accomplish that.

Back-to-back championships were the crown jewels for a city rich in hockey history. Pittsburgh's love affair actually began with an NHL team, the Pirates, that played in Steeltown from 1925 to 1930.

In the mid-1930s, the American Hockey League came to town. The team was called the Hornets, a beloved bunch that was successful on the ice and at the box office.

The six-team expansion of the NHL in 1967 meant the end for the Hornets, but the team went out with a flourish, winning both the AHL regular-season title and the Calder Cup playoff championship in their final season.

Enter the Penguins, so-named by the winner of a contest because the team was to play its home games in the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, which was nicknamed "The Igloo".

Faced with the job of winning over many fans who lamented the departure of their Hornets, The Penguins' first general manager, Jack Riley, and the team's first coach, Red Sullivan, opted for age and experience in building the original Penguins.

Veterans like Andy Bathgate, Earl Ingarfield, Leo Boivin, Ken Schinkel and goalie Les Binkley, all over 30, were original Penguins. Another veteran, goalie Hank Bassen was added to the original team, a move that was fan-related since Bassen had been the netminder for the champion Hornets the year before.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Binkley became a standout at 31 years of age and with a long minor league pedigree. He posted six shutouts in the Penguins' first season, only two less than the NHL leader, Ed Giacomin of the New York Rangers.

Despite Binkley's heroics, the Penguins languished in fifth place, missing the playoffs in both of their first two seasons. Red Kelly replaced Red Sullivan behind the bench in 1969, and led the Penguins into the playoff semifinals before bowing to the powerful St. Louis Blues.

Tragedy struck the franchise just before the 1969-70 season when Michel Briere, the Penguins' prized rookie forward, was seriously injured in an automobile accident. After a long convalescence, Briere died in 1971.

The Penguins were mostly hot and cold for the next couple of years, but a real drought arrived in 1983 and the team missed the playoffs for six straight seasons.

Individual stars like Jean Pronovost, Syl Apps and Pierre Larouche brought great honor to the franchise, but the arrival of superstar Mario Lemieux put the Penguins on course to greatness.

In 1994-95, Jaromir Jagr became the first European player to lead the NHL is scoring.

Drafted No. 1 overall in 1984, Lemieux won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1985. The Hart Trophy as League MVP followed in 1988, along with back-to-back Art Ross Trophies as the scoring champion in 1988 and 1989.

Craig Patrick became general manager of the Penguins in 1989, and the team's ascent continued. Patrick grabbed Ron Francis in a trade with Hartford and then drafted Jaromir Jagr with the fifth pick in the 1990 Entry Draft.

Patrick brought in college hockey legend "Badger" Bob Johnson as coach of the Pens in June of 1990, and the Penguins captured their first Stanley Cup a year later, defeating the Minnesota North Stars in six games as Lemieux captured the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

The second Cup followed in 1992, as the Penguins swept Chicago in four straight games and Lemieux won both the Hart and the Ross again. Johnson had been diagnosed with brain cancer in August of 1991, and was not behind the bench for the second triumph, having been replaced by the team's director of player development, Scotty Bowman.

Johnson died at the age of 60 in November of 1991, and a second tragedy soon followed when superstar Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease. Lemieux battled the disease, and recovered enough to win yet another scoring title.

Now the team's owner, Lemieux is one of the most revered sporting idols in Pittsburgh history. On the ice, Jagr continues to lead the Pens, and GM Patrick continues to run the team from the front office. With that kind of leadership in place, Pittsburgh's rabid fans appear to have lots to applaud in the years ahead.

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